There's more to life at Bethel than classes & seminars

Beyond the green is a place students to share the joys and hardships of being a Thresher.

Mudslam, AKA The Dirtiest Volleyball You Have Ever Played

Mod Life: Finding Fun Amidst Stress

The End of a Tennis Season

This past weekend were the conference tournaments for the men's and women's tennis teams. Unfortunately, neither team made it to nationals but that does not discount the great and successful seasons they had.

Choir members pose for a picture at the base of a Christmas tree that is next to the Royal Castle.

It’s hard to believe that today is already our 3rd full day of tour. Between the jet lag, the sightseeing and our first concert, the time seems to be moving so quickly!

I know that I personally want to take in as much as I possibly can of the cities and the cultures that we are visiting. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I want to make the most of it! As we depart Warsaw and travel to Gdansk today, I think we all are thinking of ways to make the most of the time we have left on this tour.

For me personally, one of my promises I made to myself was to seek out new experiences- whether that be new foods, places, or people. I want to do things that I can’t experience in the U.S.

I asked a few others what they were looking forward to on the rest of the tour. Following are a few of their responses:

“One of the best parts of choir tour is getting to know everyone in the choir. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most”- Casey Schunn

“I would like to share new meals with lots of different people”- Renee Reimer

“I can already tell that we’re growing closer as an ensemble and I’m excited to see that continues. Also I’m excited to be out of country for the first time!” -Jill Siebert

“I hope to get to know choir people a lot more. I also don’t want to go into stores that I can go to in America. I want it all to be different.”

Today was our first full day in Poland. The weather was actually warmer than it was when we left Kansas, which I think we all appreciated. We started the day with a wonderful breakfast from the hotel (full of breads, cheeses, and fruit), then were off for a tour of Warsaw. Kris, our tour guide, was pretty wonderful, giving us a brief history of Poland and helpful tips such as “the squirrels in Poland can be worse than an angry woman” and also “go to a University close to a park so you can take your significant other on romatic walks”. We also learned quite a bit about Warsaw, the capital city of Poland, which was almost completely leveled during the second World War.

The tour was followed by a free afternoon before our concert in the evening. Our concert was at 6pm at the Sienna Church located just a few minutes away from our hotel. Some church members were gracious enough to provide us with drinks and snacks before we sang. It was nice to finally get in front of an audience and show them what we have been working so hard at for the last 5 months. While not all of our audience members spoke English, they showed their appreciation by giving us a standing ovation. Words can’t describe the feeling that comes from completing a concert and seeing an entire audience stand up and clap for you. It was a beautiful evening and a great first concert. That’s all for now. More to come soon.

Today is the start of the wonderful thing we call Europe choir tour 2014!

Writing today is Madelyn Weaver, a junior social work major, management minor from from Hesston, KS.

We started today off by a 9:00am rehearsal back at Bethel before meeting at the Wichita airport at 1:00pm to get checked in!

Our first flight left at 2:55 for Dallas where we are now waiting for our flight leaving for London in a few hours. In the meantime we have been passing time by rehearsing our songs in the airport and then performing a few of them for passing strangers and a good handful of people actually stopped to listen. It was a lot of fun!

We were also able to grab a bite to eat and it is going to be time to be time to board here in a little. Up next we have our nine hour flight upon which I hope to get some good sleep in.

There should be new blogs close to every day from different members of the choir who were assigned to the blogging task.

Thursday afternoon I left Bethel for Christmas Break. This break is also the end of fall semester at Bethel College. I left Bethel about 3pm on Thursday, went home for about 10 minutes, and then went to my youngest sister’s basketball game in Whitewater. I got home late that evening and had a little bit of time to relax. The next day, Friday, I left at 1pm for my Camp Mennoscah summer staff reunion. I just got back from that a few hours ago. Of course, if was super fun! But, I am now back at home and do not have to go anywhere. I can sit and read a book or take a nap if I want to. While I have many things I need to do this week, for now I am just reveling in this time off.

As I think back on this past semester at Bethel, I realize that I grew in many ways. This was a very busy semester for me. My classes were no harder than usual, but I had a lot more hours than I was used to. At times I was very challenged deciding how to keep a good balance between school work and socializing. There were many days that I went to class, went to work, and then studied the rest of the evening. Sometimes this frustrated me. But, I am very happy with how my semester went. Hard work may be boring at times, but worth it in the end.

Though I was not able to socialize as much as I wanted, I still grew a lot closer to many people. I had never lived with four of the girls in my mod, and did not know very much about them. I grew to appreciate these four girls not just as nice people, but for the unique aspects that I soon learned about each one of them. I also expanded my overall friendships at Bethel; some people I did not know very well have become very good friends.

As the end of the semester winds down, a lot of us find ourselves reflecting over what happened over the course of the semester. From memories made, those laugh-until-your-face hurt moments, to maybe even those that you wish you could forget, now is the time a lot of us do that. And I was doing that today as well. After I took my one and only final of the day, I started thinking about this semester, how it all began, and what I thought at the beginning of the semester, compared to what I think now.

The first day I was on campus, I had told myself that I wasn’t going to let anyone know that I was any different than any other student on campus. I wasn’t going to let them find out I was 26 years old. I wasn’t going to let them find out that I am a single mother to two kids. I wasn’t going to let them know that my college history of getting to the point where I am now was a rough road. As well, I never thought that I’d make real friends here…..

So what changed? Shortly after the first few weeks, people started coming out of their shell. As did I. I still wasn’t able to open up to a lot of people, but there were starting to be cracks in my cover-up and conseal. I met two other students who were moms. One of them confided to me that only a few other people knew. That’s when it struck me. Since when is being a mom so bad? Why was I trying to hide my children from this part of my life? When did having children, suddenly seem like the worst thing ever?

As time progressed, I lost my mask that I was so adamant about having the first few weeks of school. I told people I was a mom to two wonderful children named Emma and Luke. After I let them know, they could see that I put them as a top priority in my life. I brought them to a football game, and brought them to trick-or-treat off the street. And these people that I had been going to school with, were treating my kids as an extension of me. They treated my children with the same kind of kindness and respect that they had treated me with.

And suddenly, I felt like a fool for trying to cover up who I am.

I took off the mask, and started being me. Me…Mallory. Mallory with the kids. Mallory with the curly frizzy red hair. Mallory who is 26, but still feels like I belong here. Mallory who has more than her fair share of blonde moments….. And I came to find out, that people still liked the real Mallory, 26 with two kids, and all.

And I have the students to thank for that. Thank you for making me realize that the shell I had put up to “protect” me, was in fact hindering me from my Bethel experience.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this blog contains tips to relieve stress because this is a busy week for Bethel students, staff and faculty as they are wrapping up the end of the semester. Also, even if you aren’t at Bethel, people deal with stress in their lives each and every day. I hope you find this blog relevant and helpful for you! Even if you have heard of these tips before, sometimes it helps me to be reminded of them!

The following are tips that I found from an online article at Webmd.com.

The first tip is to Meditate.This only takes a few minutes out of your day. In this article it states that there is research that suggests daily meditation may alter the brain’s neural pathways. This altering makes you more resilient to stress.

The second tip is the simple task of Breathing Deeply.This task also does not take a lot of time out of your day. When you get to the point of very high stress, take a step back from what you’re doing and concentrate on breathing deeply with your eyes closed. Inhale through your nose and then exhale out of your mouth. Breathing deeply helps slow your heart rate and lower blood pressure which helps counter the effects of stress.

Another helpful hint mentioned in this article was to Reach Out.Being able to talk to people from your support system is a very important resource for dealing with stress and is a tip that I persona

Another easy stress reliever is to Be Grateful. How does being grateful help relieve stress may you ask? Well when you are thinking about the things you are thankful for it cancels out the negative thoughts and worries. I know I have a lot to be thankful for so this is an easy tip for me!lly use a lot. I have a great family and a great mod full of girls that I can talk to when I get stressed and need to vent!

The last fun stress reliever tip that I will leave you with I also found on Webmd.com. This article listed foods that also reduce stress as well! These foods include:

This is finals week! Lots of stress, crying, and studying. Maybe it is not that bad, but it’s quite intense! To get away from all of the stress I decided to ask all of my mod mates what they are doing over Christmas Break. Except Michelle Unruh, because she is taking a final right now… oops!

Katelyn Melgren- Her mom’s side of the family is coming to town and staying with Katelyn’s family for a few days. They will be going to the Christmas Eve service at her church. They will also have an extended family grab bag with the stipulation that the gift has to be related to food. Christmas with her dad’s family will be the following weekend, over New Years, and they will have a grab bag gift exchange with the theme of silly slippers.

Alli Rudeen- She is going home to Osage City. Later, she will come back to this area for her mom’s side family Christmas in Moundridge. This will be a rather large party of 20+ people. Her brother and sister in law, Aaron and Rachel, will also be coming home from where they live in Oregon. At some point, Alli will have Christmas with her dad’s family in Kansas City. In addition to these plans, Alli is going to catch up with some high school friends before they go to study abroad, read some books, get excited for her interterm trip to Europe, and not think about school for three weeks. Of course, she is hoping for some shopping trips with her mom, also!

Alyssa Scheuerman- She and her other two siblings will all be travelling home for this break. Then Alyssa is going to Iowa to see her grandparents. She is excited to make candy with her mom and help her dad chore. More importantly, she is excited for all of her siblings to be together, because it will be the first time since last Christmas.

Madelyn Weaver- She is going to stay in Hesston and spend a lot of time with her family. She will be having a Weaver and Lehman Christmas also. The Weaver Christmas is at her house and the Lehman Christmas will most likely be at her grandparents in Florence, KS. They will bake sugar cookies, and on Christmas Eve they will eat a special raclette meal, which is a Swiss tradition that her family has.

Allie Hipp- She is going to visit her grandparents in Ellis, KS. Her extended family will have a grab bag and,yes, present stealing is allowed. The stealing can sometimes get very intense, so hopefully she will survive the break ;). When she is not having fun, she will be working with her dad on the farm. Allie also has a lot of presents to wrap because she has already finished her Christmas present shopping! Apparently this lady knows how to black Friday shop!

My plans, you ask? I will be going home for a few days, and then traveling to California with my parents and siblings. We will be staying with my grandparents and having a wonderful Christmas there! I think skiing may be in the line up… which I have never done! Then around New Years Day, we will head home, right in time for interterm to start.

This past week was very busy! I had multiple assignments due all at once, including a 30 minute presentation and multiple papers. Friday was reading day, oh, and also Gala! I do not think much “reading” was done on this day. So, Gala happened Friday night. We had a delicious meal in Memorial Hall, which was very beautifully decorated. Next was a cold walk over to the FAC for the jazz concert. All of the musicians did a wonderful job! After that, we walked over to the president’s house where we were served cookies and could take pictures with Santa! Finally there was a dance that I heard was a great time.

Two days later, we had some more fun-but-distracting-from-studying events. The first was Lighting of the Green. I helped out with this event by passing out candles and then lighting them. For a person who is not very good with lighters to begin with, this was a very difficult task in the bitter cold. But, the candles, singing, and company was totally worth braving the weather.

Immediately after Lighting of the Green, everyone could head over to the caf for a nacho bar and presents from the Bethel Parent’s council. All Bethel students received a Mojo’s gift card- which is one the best kind of gifts to get! This was also a tacky Christmas sweater party. I saw some pretty tacky sweaters. However, Allan Jantz’s was not supposed to be tacky… in case you were wondering!

Today is Tuesday, the 10th of December. I had one final yesterday, took two already today, and have one left at seven tonight. After that I am done with school for a few weeks! Well, almost. I plan to stick around to finish up my service learning volunteer hours and work at my campus job for some extra Christmas money!

This past Friday was the Winter Gala. This is like a Christmas prom or semi formal for college students. It was a VERY chilly evening which made walking to and from the events of the night a little uncomfortable but despite the bitter cold, I had a wonderful time!

It started off with a dinner served in Memorial Hall by faculty and staff. The decorations were beautiful and the food was delicious. There was also a place up on stage decorated for taking pictures with your dates and friends. After the meal was the Jazz concert. My friends and I went to listen and it was a great performance done by the jazz students here at Bethel. There was also supposed to be horse-drawn carriage rides but unfortunately because of the cold they were canceled. After the Jazz performance we headed to President White’s house for cookies and hot drinks! Again, the snacks were delicious and they also had a Santa that you could take a picture with which was fun! Following all of these activities was the last event of the night: the dance.

The evening was fun but waking up the next day I, along with many others had to start focusing on the finals waiting for us once the weekend was over. I’ve spent a lot of my time ever since in the library and Mojo’s, but the end is in sight!

Last year around finals time I began blogging about “stress buster tips” to help get students through finals, professors through their end-of-the semester work, and for anyone else who is dealing with a lot of stress. I decided that I will include a little bit of that this semester so be looking for my next blog about ways to reduce your stress!

This Thanksgiving break has been different than all my other years at Bethel. Instead of getting Wednesday through the weekend off, we got a whole week off starting last Saturday. At first I was a little bit skeptical about the break because I would have rather had our normal Thanksgiving Break and add the rest of those days on to Christmas break to make it longer. However, being able to have this longer break has been really nice! I’ve been able to put a lot of time into projects I need to get done that I might not have had without the extension of break while also being able to spend plenty of time with my family.

At the beginning of break I took a day or two to just relax, then I worked hard on a take home test, being able to spend big chunks of time on it to get it done. Then I was able to take a few days off for the actual holiday. I was able to spend time with family and extended family for Thanksgiving, eat DELICIOUS food, talk about things we are thankful for, watch basketball and football, set up our Christmas tree, make Christmas goodies etc. Now, I have time to take another day to focus on homework to get the rest of it done so I can relax the last couple days of break.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you were able to remember everything you are thankful for and spend this holiday with people you are thankful for!

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About Us

Bethel College is a four-year, private, primarily residential, liberal arts college. Students may participate in campus spiritual life, fine arts activities, sports and more than 50 clubs and organizations. Bethel’s academic buildings, including its historic Administration Building, the Krehbiel Science Center and the James A. Will Family Academic Center, are clustered around the Green, an open grassy area where students gather. The college year consists of fall and spring semesters, a January interterm and a summer term.